We conducted a policy situation analysis in three Mekong region countries, focused on how the animal and human health systems interact to control avian influenza (AI). The study used scoping literature reviews aimed at establishing existing knowledge concerning the regulatory context. We then conducted a series of key informant interviews with national and sub-national government officials and representatives of producers and poultry farmers to understand their realities in managing the complex interface of the two sectors to control AI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMonte Carlo is famous for accepting model extensions and model refinements up to infinite dimension. However, this powerful incremental design is based on a premise which has severely limited its application so far: a state-variable can only be recursively defined as a function of underlying state-variables if this function is linear. Here we show that this premise can be alleviated by projecting nonlinearities onto a polynomial basis and increasing the configuration space dimension.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The eighth edition of the TNM classification of malignant tumors for the first time includes an official staging system for thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) recognized by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). Staging is critical for the management of TETs, and determining stage accurately from imaging has the potential to improve clinical outcomes. We examine preoperative computed tomography (CT) characteristics of TETs associated with AJCC/UICC pathologic TNM stage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigated the relationship between epidermal growth factor receptor () and Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog () mutations in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and quantitative FDG-PET/CT parameters including tumor heterogeneity. 131 patients with NSCLC underwent staging FDG-PET/CT followed by tumor resection and histopathological analysis that included testing for the and gene mutations. Patient and lesion characteristics, including smoking habits and FDG uptake parameters, were correlated to each gene mutation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: It remains unclear whether a dominant lung adenocarcinoma that presents with multifocal ground glass opacities (GGOs) should be treated by local therapy. We sought to address survival in this setting and to identify risk factors for progression of unresected GGOs.
Methods: Retrospective review of 70 patients who underwent resection of a pN0, lepidic adenocarcinoma, who harbored at least 1 additional GGO.